Dec 11, 2017

Check out them buns! Their round little heads! Tiny eyes and mouths! So adorable!!

[Bottle to nail: Rimmel Salon Pro Fondant Fancy (2 coats)]

My base from last week - Rimmel Fondant Fancy, a dusty mauve creme.

[Born Pretty BP-L088]

I was given this plate to review from Born Pretty. This is Born Pretty BP-L088 which you can find here. As usual, it comes with a pretty cardboard sleeve for storage and a blue protective film. There are so many cute animal-themed designs on here, including pandas and unicorns!

[Born Pretty BP-L088]

I almost chose the pandas, but ended up going for the bunnies instead. This is because the bunny heads are fairly large for my narrow nails and I had a bit more length going so I thought I'd take advantage of that fact.

I actually used a different stamping polish for the thumb, one of my Mundo de Unas polishes. But I was having a bit of trouble with fine detail, I think because these tend to separate quite badly when stored so I need to mix it up a bit more before use.

Anyway, I'm quite pleased with the quality of the plate and the super cuteness of the patterns! If you're interested, check out Born Pretty and feel free to use our 10% off code for full-priced items. =)

Dec 7, 2017

I unearthed these photos from when I decided to do a fancy stamping+painting mani. I'm pretty amazed at my past self's dedication, haha.

[Stained Glass Windows]

It doesn't look too shabby, does it? I was going for a stained-glass-ish look and I think it turned out pretty well.

[Born Pretty Stamping Plate BP-L052]

Here's the stamping plate I used, which is Born Pretty's BP-L052. It's one of my favourite plates, and I've used other patterns from it before. I chose two patterns to use, both which I have highlighted above.

So, let's run through the process. I started by stamping on my silicone nail art mat.

I used Australis' Jeanie in A Bottle, a navy blue nail polish, to stamp my base patterns. You can see, I was pretty messy with my stamping. :P And I was experimenting with colours. You can see where I started painting in parts of the stamped pattern.

Tada! I finished painting all the bits that I thought needed painting. Looks terrible, doesn't it?

The thing to remember is that this is the back of your mani, so you don't have to strictly paint within the lines. You can paint on top of the lines, just make sure you don't go outside of them too much. It looks pretty terrible from the back, but it'll look nice once flipped.

You also don't have to make sure everything is painted over. Remember, the base colour that you paint on your nails will be visible if you don't paint over everything, so you can use that instead to fill in the rest of the gaps. I also painted a plain gold swatch of colour on the upper left corner. You'll see what that's for later.

The nail polish colours I used:

Sally Hansen Crush on Blue - Pastel blue creme nail polish

Sally Hansen What In Carnation - Pastel purple creme nail polish

Sally Hansen Barely Blue Bell - Pastel teal creme nail polish

Sally Hansen Right Said Red - Red creme nail polish

Ulta3 Honolulu - Canary yellow creme nail polish

I broke that streak of Sally Hansen nail polishes! What a pity!

Once everything was well and truly dried, I peeled off all the stamped patches from the silicone mat, turned them over, and tada! Homemade decals! They're looking better already, aren't they?

I usually stamp extra, as you can see here, so that I can discard the ones that didn't turn out so well. You can see a couple aren't looking too great so they'll go to the bottom of the pile.

On the top row, you can see one gold swatch and another yellow swatch. So I painted those on the mat so I could figure out which would go better as a base colour for all my stamped patterns. I decided the yellow was far too bright, yech, and the gold was a much nicer match.

[Sally Hansen Gilded Lily]

Then, I painted all my nails with the gold nail polish I tested earlier, which was Sally Hansen's Gilded Lily. I have to say that I love this nail polish and have used it a lot since I bought it. It's this soft gold colour, the microglitter just a touch bigger than normal which makes it so very shiny. Application is easy and smooth, opaque in two coats.

Nothing else to do but to apply the homemade decals!

When applied, they look matte, which to be honest, I love the matte look! It looks even more like a painting, less like nail polish. And doesn't the matte gold look divine? But I don't think the mani will last without a top coat to seal in the decals. Alas!

Topcoat goes over and there you have it, the finished product! It's still one of my top favourite manis that I have ever done.

Nov 27, 2017

I remember when matte topcoats became a thing... I was so impressed! I thought, wow, the possibilities! But years later, I still collect matte polishes....No regrets...!

[Bottle to nail: Born Pretty Matte Polish 015 (2 coats)]

So today I'm reviewing a matte polish generously provided for review from Born Pretty. You can purchase this here, and there are 9 different shades available, all in a nice dusty vintage sort of look. Also, they are currently on sale for only USD1.99, bargain!

[In the bottle: Born Pretty Matte Polish 015]

The one I have for you today is 015, a slightly pinky dusty lavender shade. The photos on the nail are more true-to-shade than the bottle pic above. This polish also comes in a cardboard box with a circular cutout so you can see the shade inside.

[2 coats: Born Pretty Matte Polish 015]

This polish has a thick creamy formula that dries quickly as most matte polishes do. The first coat tended to be uneven and needed careful application to get a level finish. The second coat will not level it out! It actually enhances any uneven finish, so make sure to get your first coat right!

[2 coats: Born Pretty Matte Polish 015]

I
found the thick formula a bit harder to work with and you need to take a
bit more care with application. It's probably not toooo obvious to the
eye, but I'm a bit fussy about an even finish.

I really love this colour though, so if you want to check out this collection, head over to Born Pretty! This is already super discounted, but if there are other full-priced products catching your eye, our 10% off code above will help you out!

I have had this lovely polish from the Maybelline Color Show range for ages but could not find a nice base to go with. This is called Bouquet, and is a clear base with three different sizes of hex glitter in gold foil, white matte and pink matte. Such a lovely colour combination!

Nov 16, 2017

I'm surprised that I haven't swatched this yet! This is Dance Legend's Velvet Mini 12.

[Number Twelve]

This is #12 from Dance Legend's Velvet Mini collection and it's gorgeous! It's this dusty duochrome blue-green velvet matte foil which I just love.

[Dance Legend's Velvet Mini 12]

The duochrome-y is subtle, not very in your face, but I think it suits the overall dusty colour. As usual, it was a smooth application. It dries a velvet matte pretty quickly. If you do apply a topcoat, it would be super shiny.